Survivorfest 6 hour track race

I wasn't intending to do Survivorfest this year, but having put my name down to marshal from 5pm until 11pm, I thought it would be good practice for The Divide 200 if I signed up to run the 6 hour event, but starting at 2am Sunday morning. One may ask how 6 hours on a track could possibly prepare me for a 200 mile trail race in the mountains of Southern Alberta, but this time it wasn't about the terrain, nor even running long or fast. No, this time it was practicing being on my feet all day, and then having a couple of hours sleep before waking up and making my body run through the night, when it very likely would much prefer to be resting in a comfortable bed!

I arrived at the Strathcona Athletics Park mid afternoon on the Saturday, and having set up my own aid station for later on, I settled down for the remainder of the afternoon, and watched some incredible athletes churning out mile after mile, as they took part in the 24 hour event. At 30°c, it was certainly a warm day for the runners, and whilst there was a breeze, it was quite a gusty breeze that made running one half of the track hard work. Smoke from wildfires still burning in Alberta and neighbouring provinces had also moved in once again, and the air quality for the duration of the event was rated poor. Yet those incredible athletes persevered, pushing on through not only the unfavourable conditions, but also their own personal battles as the fatigue started to set in, and they battled on in the hope of achieving their goals.

My volunteer shift started at 5pm, and I positioned myself on the corner of the loop B course and provided encouragement to all those runners passing by for the next few hours. I'm not sure whether they appreciated me cheering and clapping for them every time they passed by, and I'm sure they must have had a sense of deja vu for the next few hours having me sitting there.

It was a lovely evening as the sun started to go down, and when Andy and the pups joined me at around 10.30pm, the sight of our three pups seemed to give some of the runners an extra spring in their step as they ran by.

My shift ended promptly at 11pm, and it was now time to get myself ready for my own race in a couple of hours. I downed a coffee - I'm probably one of the few people that can still sleep at night even if drinking coffee late on - and ate a scrumptious beef sandwich and a doughnut, before heading back to the track to get some shut eye in the tent.

I set my alarm for 1.15am then settled down in my sleeping bag in the hope of getting some sleep. Things had obviously cooled off with nightfall, but the wind was still ridiculously strong and the tent was flapping around which was quite noisy. The pups had come into the tent with me but were spooked by the noise of the tent, so Andy took them all outside to sleep whilst I settled down on my own.

The track wasn't particularly noisy, but there was too much activity for me to sleep properly, and the floodlights were far too bright to convince my mind it was time to sleep. I think I got about 40 minutes of sleep before my alarm went off and I needed to get changed into my running gear ready to race.

I was surprised at how awake I felt, and I knew that my body would respond pretty well when asking it to run, despite being the very early hours of a Sunday morning. Three of us had registered for the 2am start on loop A, and after a pre-race briefing, it was time to go.

I settled into a steady pace pretty much straight away and was knocking out consistent 400m laps of around 2.10. It felt comfortable. My breathing didn't feel laboured, my legs felt good, and it didn't feel like I was running too fast. I was looking to run between 60 and 65k in the 6 hours, and I kept things controlled, taking a one lap walking break to grab some fluids every 45 minutes. This strategy was working well, and I had no nausea whatsoever for the entire race. The food from earlier in the day had worked its way through and I did need to poop twice in the night which meant I lost around 4 minutes of running time whilst on the loo, but I soon got back into a steady rhythm and had no intentions of speeding up to make up for that lost time.

One of the hardest things for me this time around was having to run around the other runners on the track. Having been running for a good 17+ hours already, many of the 24 hour runners were walking or moving very slowly on the inside lane. I'd only been going for a short while and was still feeling fresh, so I was moving much faster. I've done enough timed events to know that I have to run around the others, but I was getting a little frustrated that I was having to run in lanes 3 and 4, especially when there were groups of runners together. Some spectators were also stepping into the inside lane without realising, and this too added extra distance to my over distance as things progressed.

For some reason, I'd got it into my head that we'd be changing direction at 4am, but this was of course incorrect and I was an hour ahead of myself! When I realised my mistake, I encountered my first and only negative thought and self-doubt in the race, and it took me a few moments to get my mental focus back on track. That extra hour before the turn seemed so long at first, but switching my mind to other more positive things helped, and I started to focus on the rising of the sun instead, which got me through the next few laps without too much trouble.

I was really hoping that we'd get to encounter a spectacular sunrise, but as things started to get light at 4am, it was clear that the smoke was still lingering in the air. A foggy haze filled the morning sky, and eventually I saw the sun, not accompanied by the beautiful pastel colours of dawn, but rather a bright red spot in an otherwise quite murky sky.

With about 2 hours of my race remaining, it looked like I'd finish with around 40 miles which I'd be quite happy with. It was just 4 weeks out from Sinister 50 miler and I didn't want to overdo things at Survivorfest and hinder my prep for Sinister. I kept things going, still hitting that 2.10 lap, although a couple of slower ones were now starting to slip in every 30 minutes or so. With the rising of the sun came the rising temperatures, and I was having to rehydrate more frequently. The smoke was also making my throat quite dry, so I was taking longer to drink to make sure I could finish strong.

With every lap, Andy and the pups were asleep outside of the tent, and I found it comforting to see my little family there, looking comfortable and content. It got me feeling all emotional a couple of times - boy, do I love our little family, and I was so proud of how calm and quiet the pups were being, even as I ran past them every couple of minutes. Andy had initially come along to crew me, but I'd left a small table at the side of the track on which I'd put my drinks, and so I was able to grab what I needed without disturbing Andy and the pups. He slept soundly, oblivious to his surroundings, as us runners kept on passing by.

As we came into the last hour, things stated to liven up again. The music started, spectators were waking up, and the buzz of the race returned as everybody had a new lease of life, running into those last couple of hours. With a couple of minutes to go in my race, I gave everything I had to squeeze in one last lap, but failed to complete the lap, missing out by around 80m. I didn't bother measuring the partial lap - my official distance was just shy of 63km or just over 39 miles - my watch was reading 41 miles, and I was perfectly OK with that :)

I thought that I would be shattered both physically and mentally having been up since 7am the previous day, yet I was still feeling awake and even my body felt good, despite having just ran 40 miles. I was certainly very hungry and desperate for a coffee, but we hung around to see the 24 hour runners finish, before packing up and heading off.

It was a great weekend at Survivorfest and it gave me some confidence about my ability to run after a couple of hours sleep, when it comes to The Divide 200 in September. As ever, the event was extremely well organised, the support from everybody was tremendous, and it once again confirmed why I love this race, and why I try to come back year after year. It truly is like a family.

This year once again saw folks qualify for the Canadian 24 hour national team, it saw records broken, and it saw others reach and even exceed their own personal goals. It was amazing to see, and I feel so proud and honoured to have been just a very small part of it.

After a couple of rest days, I soon got back into things and did a couple of easy runs, and today I hit the trails for a couple of hours in the pouring rain. Sinister 50 miler is only 3 weeks away and I need to get my trail legs back ready for those mountain climbs. It's been fun doing backyard ultras and a bit of track running, but now it IS time to focus on my biggie in September, and to commence the next stage in my training. I'm excited, and I can't wait!

... the merry month of May ... so green, so green, so ... smoky!

May has always seemed like such a long month for me, and yet this year, it's whizzed by and I can't believe how quickly we are speeding towards the month of June, and the height of mid-summer!

Things have certainly been summery here in Alberta, and for several days this month, we have encountered extreme heat in the 30 degrees Celsius range and minimal rainfall. With such dry conditions and lack of rain, combined with some very windy days, the wildfire season started early and there have been several fires burning which has created horrendously smoky conditions for many areas, including our neck of the woods. The air quality has been at a +10 which is very poor, and there's no doubt that this has had an impact on many people that spend a lot of time outdoors.

The sad thing is hearing about all the people that have had to be evacuated, and this really hit home when Leduc County itself became affected by the fires, and we at work were being asked of we could help out at the emergency crisis centre for all those displaced by the fires. Knowing some of the firefighters on the front line, and hearing about some of the County residents that we had personally dealt with at work, was certainly hard hitting and it really brought the impact of the fires closer to home.

Not everyday has been covered in the horrid, orange, smoky haze, and we have had some days where the sun has shone through and we've seen gorgeous blue skies, and we have certainly been taking advantage of those days, walking the pups and getting out for runs, as well as sneaking in another little camping trip.

Thankfully, the weekend of the Lakou Backyard Ultra was one of those days where the sun was shining and we had beautiful blue skies. A wildfire did break out during the race on the other side of the river close to Devon and folks living in the area were asked to prepare for evacuation. Thankfully it was distinguished quickly, and it had no impact on the race in terms of any smoke drifting over.

I had gone into this particular race feeling fit and strong, and was really hoping to hit the 30 hours mark again if there was somebody else there that could cover that kind of distance. I wasn't even bothered about the weather forecast which was telling us it was going to be 28 degrees during the day, and still in the mid to high teens in the overnight period. I just felt so mentally prepared to go long, and I was just hoping that my body would do the same. Everything was indicating that I should have a good race, but then ultra running is full of surprises, and my DNF came much earlier than I had been hoping for.

The first 13 hours of the event went perfectly. I was knocking out consistent 46 to 47 minute laps when I was doing my own thing, and around about 50 minutes when running with others, and things felt relaxed and comfortable the whole time. My legs felt great, my mind was positive, I was eating and drinking well, and I was even peeing and pooping when expected which showed that my body was functioning as it should do, and I wasn't overdoing things.

Backyard Ultra camp set up

Unfortunately at around about the 13 hour mark, I started to get a mild stitch. Normally I can cope with stitch and it disappears, but this just lingered and wasn't getting any better. I continued to eat and drink, but it started to get progressively worse and by the end of the 16th lap, I was having trouble taking deep breaths due to the cramping right across my diaphragm. I was so annoyed as everything else was feeling really good, but not being able to breathe properly meant that I had to keep stopping to walk just to get some oxygen inside of me. I was going to stop at the 16 hour mark, but the volunteers encouraged me to go out and try for lap 17, and with 15 seconds to spare, I made the decision to head out again, grabbing a bottle of water from our tent and making it back in the corral just in time.

In the groove and having fun :)

My 17th loop started ok, but 20 minutes in, I knew I wasn't going to reach the midway point on time, so I made the difficult decision to end my race there and turned around to head back through the darkness. It was about 3am at this point, my headtorch was flickering as the battery started to fade, and with no streetlighting anywhere nearby, I was concerned that I'd end up in the pitch black, wandering around in circles until dawn arrived, trying to find my way back to the start/finish area.

Of course I was disappointed, but I also know that this is the nature of ultra running, and after other disappointing races over the years, I know I'll learn from the experience, bounce back, and just put it all behind me as I move my focus onto my next race.

What I will say about the Lakou Backyard Ultra is that it was a fantastic event, and the course is probably the best backyard loop I have done so far. The catering was perfection, the setup was excellent, and I really cannot fault anything at all. I really hope that it gains in popularity as it deserves far more attention that it currently gets, but then it is only in its second year, and I'm sure word of mouth will bring in the runners, and hopefully big numbers will occur here in the years to come.

I took an entire week off from running after the backyard ultra - both my body and mind needed it, as I sometimes forget that even when things don't go to plan, I still spent a considerable about of time running, covering 120km or thereabouts and missing out on quality sleep for a night. This does have an impact on things, and whereas in my younger days I could recover quickly and be out running just a couple of days later, nowadays things take a little longer. Besides, after a couple of clear, sunny days, the smoke returned, and we were back under a blanket of murky skies and very poor air quality. I did run the following Sunday - just an easy 10km. Things had seemed to clear a little, but when getting back from that run, my throat was burning and my voice sounded hoarse - clearly the smoky air was much worse than what I had thought when I had looked out of the window that morning.

Smoky runs and smoky skies :(

When I did get back into my running, it was back to speed sessions and long runs again, although I haven't really had much chance to get out on the trails. My speed sessions have gone pretty well, although my pace when running 400m repeats flat out these days is slower than my marathon pace was 15 years ago, and it still makes me wonder how on earth I used to be able to hold that kind of pace for just over 26 miles or more! I did have a very good progression run earlier this week and to quote a friend, it was "text book" pacing, and then this weekend, I had a 3 hour track run to do which went extremely well - 35+ km at an average of around 8.12 pace. It was hot and breezy and the run was tough mentally, but I was pretty happy to have pushed on through, especially as my legs were ready to give up at around the 28km mark.

Track run done and met by the pups :)

In case one is wondering why I'm doing long track runs when my main goal this year is the Divide 200 trail race, I ended up signing up for Survivorfest again, although this time, I am only doing the 6 hour event and have opted to start at 2am on the Sunday morning. My reasoning for this is because I want my body to get used to resting and then waking up in the early hours to run as this will be great practice for the 200 miler when I may just have to snooze at the side of the trail, and get moving at some ridiculous, ungodly hour when it's still dark outside.

I'm also volunteering at Survivorfest and will be marshaling the track and trail from 5pm until 11pm. This was another tactical decision as the plan is to have a couple of hours snooze when my shift ends, before getting up to run for 6 hours. I'm excited to see how my body copes, but either way, it will be mental and physical preparation for my biggie later this year.

I've been doing quite a bit of volunteering this past few weeks at races, and I have to say that I have really been enjoying watching others racing and achieving their goals. I do so many races myself that I do like to give something back to the running community, so I do this my offering my services when I can. Back in late May, I helped out at the 5 Peaks trail race at Terwillegar. We'd been having some record breaking temperatures back then which had led to the wildfires and fire bans, but that particular day, it was rather chilly and very windy. I volunteered at the Whitemud 5 Peaks race today, and it was back to being hot with temperatures in the low 20s even at 10am when the race started. Seeing so many familiar faces is always nice, and I love being able to encourage everybody to keep pushing on to the finish line, in the hope that they achieve their goals no matter what they may be.

5 Peaks volunteering - Whitemud

Last weekend was also a weekend of volunteering as I headed out to Cooking Lake to help out at the Blackfoot Ultra. I've ran that event twice, winning the 50 mile race back in 2018 and then entering the 100k a year or two later, where I ended up with a DNF. It's another really friendly race with a chilled out atmosphere, and I love spending time out there helping where I can, and enjoying a bit of a picnic with the family whilst watching the racers finishing. This year a good friend of mine was doing her first 50 mile race, and I was so happy to have been able to see her smash her goals and see her finish with a huge smile on her face.

In addition to the running stuff, we are of course still trying to make videos, and prior to Blackfoot, we did spend a night at Elk Island where I slept in an self-made emergency shelter and bivy. It was a gorgeous night spent sleeping in the open air and enjoying those beautiful starlit skies, and I did sleep extremely well despite how things might have looked. Whilst some may question why I do these kind of things and how I could possibly have fun and actually enjoy doing them, I am using some of the things as preparation for my 200 mile race as I want to be as mentally and physically prepared as possible. It really is lots of fun and I really don't mind roughing it, although I must admit that I do crave a weekend occasionally where I just chill out and sleep in a warm and comfy bed, snuggled up with all the pups!

Emergency bivy and basic shelter for the night

Of course we are now in June (I started writing this blog a couple of weeks ago but have just been too busy to finish until now!), and my mountain races are fast approaching, with Sinister 50 miler just around the corner. I really need to start hitting the hills and trails again if I want a decent race there, or at least do some strength sessions that will target my climbing muscles. I have some ideas and I will be more focused on doing these sessions over the next couple of weeks so I do have at least some chance of a good run at Sinister 50 in July.

For now though, it's back to work tomorrow after another awesomely busy weekend. I really need a holiday where I can just relax and do nothing, but somehow I think I would find that quite difficult.

Until next time .......